Back in August of 2015 we had linked to an article describing the actions of Zvika Greengold, an Israeli Medal of Valor recipient who was said to have single-handedly destroyed numerous Arab tanks during the Yom Kippur War. A new article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz is making the claim that Greengold’s story was a tall tale spun to boost unit morale.

Excerpt:

A senior Israeli army officer who fought in the Yom Kippur War says he made up one of the most famous tales of Israeli heroism in that war, in an effort to boost morale.

In a report broadcast Friday night on Channel 2, Israel Defense Forces Brig. Gen. (res.) Yair Nafshi said he concocted the story about how IDF tank commander Lt. Zvika Greengold single-handedly destroyed dozens of Syrian tanks in the Golan Heights in October 1973, holding off the Syrian advance.

Nafshi, a battalion commander in the 188th Brigade in which Greengold also served, said he created the story in order to improve morale in the unit, which had lost a large number of troops in the war.

“We had to rebuild [the unit] from nothing. What did you want? We needed some kind of story,” said Nafshi.

Another officer interviewed for the report, Col. (res.) Amnon Sharon – who fought with Greengold and was taken prisoner by the Syrians – said that when he finally met up with him, Greengold made no mention of destroying the tanks. “The public needs to know the truth, so I can’t remain silent any longer,” said Sharon.

This rather dramatic picture is of the manufacturing process of a cast tank hull. While the photo does not have a caption, we think this is the hull of a Swiss PZ 61 or Pz 68 tank. If that is correct, then this photo would be of a facility of the George Fischer company of Schaffhausen.

The Telegraph of London is reporting on a long lost poem by Winnie the Pooh creator AA Milne on the invention of tanks during WWI. We had posted about this story last month as part of a “news around the net” style post, but we figured since it has come up in a major newspaper, the story merits mentioning again. Anyway, it’s not often that we get to post about poetry.

Excerpt:

A‘lost’ poem by Winnie the Pooh author AA Milne heralding the invention of the tank in World War One has been discovered.

The work was penned by the former soldier six years before he created the Pooh stories. It was for a fundraising performance to support the Tank Corps Prisoners of War Fund in November 1918.

The poem eulogises the new British weapon which Milne repeatedly describes as ‘those wonderful tanks’.

He writes how the tanks ‘will flatten a wood if the covers too good’ and how its guns ‘rat-tat-tat, as it opens on Fritz, and he runs like a rat’.

From the Abilene Reporter News comes this story about the restoration of a tank themed mural at the 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum. The article can be read here. For those curious about the 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum, check out their website here.